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Since the very first mention of Roll Saga Baseball, we've had many requests by people interested in becoming an active and important part of the development process of the game. So, on October 1, 2016, we'll be officially launching the Roll Saga Baseball Developer Program, which has been designed to allow people the chance to be an important part of the creation process of new expansions and to get full credit and revenue as well.

Some of the opportunities that the program includes are:

Full Credit

As a developer, you'll receive full credit on all projects that you develop or collaborate on. This credit will extend throughout every medium in which the project is marketed.

Revenue Sharing

Once your project is ready, whether it's a player season, umpire season, or stadium expansion, you'll get paid every time it sells -- either individually or as part of a package.

Developer's Boxes

Being on the team also means that you get a special edition Developer's Box that not only has every component inside for developer-use, but is also packed with other tools and guides to assist you in your creations.

Communications & Collaborations

You'll be able to collaborate in real-time with other developers in the cloud or work solo at your own pace. We'll give you a professional email (yourname@rollsaga.com) and a dedicated phone number via our toll-free business service.

Alpha through Beta

As a team member, you'll also have exclusive access to other projects in development by other developers and creators. This exclusive access will extend to both Alpha and Beta projects.

Flexibility

Being a remote developer and collaborator puts you in charge of your own project and you'll set the hours consistent with any deadlines from your own location.

An Important Part

You'll not only be a part of the newest and most in-depth tabletop baseball game simulator, but you'll also be an integral part of its growth and success in the future.

How to Get Started

If you're ready learn more about how to get started being a developer, we're ready to give you the opportunity to develop new seasons, ballparks (modern or historical) and other expansions -- and get paid in the process.

Giving people an epic tabletop baseball game with no charts and a lot of visual.

On May 23, 2016 we officially started shipping Roll Saga Baseball following our successful 2015 Kickstarter campaign. With our game, tabletop baseball players not only get to manage their teams using a hybrid statistical and visual approach, but they get to do it in any ballpark of their choice.

We believe that a large part of our success so far comes from our design: we feel that a baseball game played non-digitally should not suffer from a lack of visual beauty, just because it deals in statistics. That’s why we've invested a lot of time, and as much money as a small Miami startup can muster, creating a premium tabletop baseball experience.

Over the last 3 years we’ve made hundreds of sketches and prototypes to figure out what a visually appealing tabletop baseball game should look like. The most challenging part of it all has been that we had to carefully craft a balance between beauty and math. Because why should you have to do without one or the other? Baseball is a beautiful game – not just an intellectual one.

We tried many different designs, materials, and concepts for play; but every time we ended up with something far more generic than we wanted. A tabletop baseball game should look like, well, baseball. And baseball is all about green grass, brown dirt, and the crack of the bat on long summer days. It’s most certainly not about black and white paper strips and cardboard cutouts.

So we decided to try something else. What if we could make a game that would not only be as big and bold as a baseball game should be on the tabletop, but intuitive as well? The results have been exciting: by using a large premium game mat as the centerpiece, individual players that sit upright in the field and are not dependent on charts, and as much depth and detail as the player’s desire, the game suddenly felt alive and more valuable. And by emphasizing the use of stadium overlays to sit on top of the game mat to transform it to any ballpark, our fans suddenly began to see the exciting idea of playing a baseball tabletop game that comes to life.

Stadium Expansions

From that moment on, we decided to create a new overlay for every major league baseball stadium out there, and to have it easy to place on top of the game mat to convert it to that field. We designed each overlay to be an actual template that when laid atop the game mat in the outfield area, it would not only alter the appearance, but also provide accurate wall distances and heights; not to mention ballpark factors.

The players

We used the same cutting-edge strategy with our player standees. We made the bold decision to try and fit every single detail needed for that player to function in the game on the standee itself. We did that to create an experience that frees the players from chart flipping. Although we had quite a challenge in getting everything to fit on each separate standee, we were successful. And people love it.

The above image shows all of the data that we’ve squeezed on to each and every position player. We've done this for every pitcher, coach, manager, and umpire standee as well. All content is directly printed on the small 1 ¾”x ¾” standee that is inserted into a stand that sits upright on the game mat. When a play ensues involving any given player, everything that needs to be known about that particular player’s ability to succeed in that action: whether a hit, fielding play, or certain type of pitch, is clearly visible without any attention being taken off the field.

These abilities, which are calculated from over forty columns of statistical data per player, accurately reflect the prowess and capabilities of that player when attempting an action: these abilities are the raw talent of the athlete and can dictate his success or failure for that action. Not only that, we also included simulation-based data for the players who wanted more of a replay-type experience: a game where the results are hyper-dependent on how the player actually performed during the season as opposed to how he could have performed.

Pitching mechanics

We also knew that for a game to really and accurately reflect baseball, the timeless duel between the pitcher and batter had to be authentically replicated without the use of motherboards and plasma screens. So we concentrated on the major types of pitches that are thrown in the game: from the slick and wily cutter to the profound and jaw-dropping Japanese shuuto. And we found that by incorporating cards to represent each pitch, along with the placement of a ball token on a pitching pad representing a strike zone, we achieved a result that truly mimics the action of the pitcher-batter matchup.

Showing a player holding the pitching cards corresponding to his pitcher on the mound's repertoire, Roll Saga Baseball uses a very unique pitching mechanism to replicate a pitcher's specific arsenal and skill-set

Playing levels and rule flexibility

One of the downsides of our overzealous desire to include every single type of play and strategy, was that we ended up with our games lasting as long as baseball games in real life do – and sometimes even longer. But they didn’t have to be. Reaching out to our community, we discovered that while some players truly wanted the intense game of pitch by pitch, others did not - only wanting games that were fast and focused on results; while still others wanted a combination of the two, as well as the choice to go either way.

So we went back to the drawing board and came up with a system of play where the players themselves choose the amount of depth and strategy that they want to use in-game, thereby setting their own time constraints. How did we do it? By letting the players decide what rules to include and what game speed and depth to play. Only have 20 minutes for a game? We got this. Want to play out a full 9-inning game with all the bells and whistles? You’re covered. Want to mix it all together and play light for 6 innings and heavy for three? No problem.

The results

The results have been fantastic. And so far we have managed, with the great support of many Kickstarter backers and customers, to keep moving onward in design and development. We haven’t had a loss yet – only a few occasions where we learned a lesson or two.

But these wins did not come without a lot of cost and heartaches. So many times we had to stop and reboot just to make sure we get it right. One area that was very much a challenge was the material choice and production for the stadium overlays. Time and time again we had to revisit the design and choice of materials to ensure that they would, as a final product, be worthy of the game itself.

The next steps

Launching Roll Saga Baseball was one big adventure, but this is only the start. Since we've launched, not only have we done well in our Kickstarter and post-Kickstarter orders, but our email fan base has continued to grow by so much that sometimes our inboxes are quite literally overflowing with questions and comments. Over the last few months, since the end of our Kickstarter in August of last year and the start of our shipping in May, we’ve continued to add on more and more features to the game, a lot of them based on assumptions. Sometimes our assumptions were right and sometimes they were wrong. Now it’s time to keep analyzing the data that we’ve garnered, heed the feedback that we've been given, and continue optimizing for the future. Bigger. Better. Faster. Smarter.

Of course Roll Saga Baseball isn’t perfect yet and we’re working very hard to improve it, step by step. We’ve had our share of delays after getting started, but each time we overcame the challenges and never gave up the fight. And you know, for a small startup with big dreams in a very niche market, we’ve come a very long way. Feel free to send me any suggestions or thoughts to jody@rollsaga.com or at Twitter: @RollSaga.

Core Rulebook in PDF

Many of you have been asking when we would post the online version of the Roll Saga Baseball Core Rulebook, 1st Edition (150 pages).

That time has come! Not only will this facilitate game play for those of you that have your own Roll Saga Baseball game, but it will also help those that seek to better understand the depth and flexibility of Roll Saga Baseball as a whole.

Questions

Remember that if you have any questions, we are available by chat, email, or telephone during regular business hours. No question is too small or trivial.

At long last we are excited and honored to announce that Roll Saga Baseball will officially begin shipping on April 25, 2016.

It's been a laborious journey these last seven months as we've strove to have everything just perfect for the official shipping launch.

Packing Up and Shipping Out

Now that we've honed every edge, tucked every corner, and smoothed-out every wrinkle to make sure that Roll Saga is the best that it can be, we're working hard to get all of the boxes packaged and out into the shipping matrices.

Marketing

In the next few weeks, you'll start to see us actively marketing the game as we start shipping, so don't be surprised if we pop up unannounced (but not uninvited) on your favorite social media or forum.

Live Chat

We've implemented a live chat feature on the website that allows all visitors to chat with us live instantaneously.

We keep the chat line live and open during our normal business hours of 9AM - 5PM, but you'll often see it after those hours when we're burning the midnight oil (which we do quite often).

It's a very quick way to get an instant answer from us or initiate a conversation without writing an email or calling us on the phone.

So, stop in anytime, if just to say hello.

Pricing

Now that we can see the whole picture and can properly evaluate all costs, we've set our prices to what they need to be in order for us to sustain an adequate margin and be able to keep producing Roll Saga for many, many years to come.

We're also working on a shipping structure for international buyers.

Appreciation

We never get tired of saying how thankful we are to all of you who supported us on the Kickstarter and all of you who pre-ordered afterwards on the website.

And we are doubly thankful that all of you have been so very patient with us as we've hustled to make everything the very best that it can be for you.

Thank you so much, everyone. We could not have done it without you - nor would we have ever wanted to.

NOTE:

This was a Roll Saga Baseball Newsletter reprint from March 11, 2016.

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We went to work overnight to ensure that we're able to provide everyone with a stable means of acquiring support for any issues that may arise and need a quick response.

For us, it is very important that all customers feel the highest level of respect and security in knowing that no problem is too small to not warrant our attention and action.

So, what we did was this:

(1) On the website support page we beefed up the contact form so that it is a dedicated Support Request Form with radio buttons listing some of the subjects of support that may, as a matter of course, arise.

Upon completion of this form, it is given top priority to ensure that a quick resolution to any problem can be achieved.

(2) Outside of the website, we put together an external and stand-alone Support Request Form that can be emailed (by us) or accessed apart from RollSaga.com (by anyone) to enable those that cannot access the website to have the same support access as those that can.

Additionally, we placed access to this stand-alone Support Request Form on three of our social media channels:

iii. Google Plus (the about page, see the 'links' section) to make it easy to find.

Of course, we're only a phone call away at 1-888-850-2025 during regular business hours (Mon - Sat, 9 AM - 5 PM) and we can always be reached with an email sent directly to support@rollsaga.com.

We don't anticipate many support problems in the future, but we want you to be confident that if you do have an issue - regardless of what it is - we'll work very hard to make sure that it gets resolved.

The external Support Request Form can be viewed here.
The website Support Request Form can be viewed here.

Yesterday, we were pleased to learn that the SSL certificate - that we have been actively seeking for a while - was granted. Now, when you navigate to our website at RollSaga.com, you'll see that you are instantly redirected to https://rollsaga.com.

In order for a company to attain this certificate across their site, many identification checks are performed to ensure that their internet business is a legitimate one.

That little 'https' with the glowing green padlock means a lot. And it's quite a big deal.

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secured (https) keeps your information safe across the internet and is the standard for any legitimate internet business. And while many online stores have 'https' in the payment gateway (when you're checking out), many of them do not have this encryption site-wide so that all of your data is protected regardless of the data or the page you're on.

This is part of our strong and continued commitment of ensuring that you not only get the very best product in material and design, but also that you, as a customer, are highly valued and your data (regardless of what it is) is protected to the highest of standards.

For those of you that would like to read more about Hyper Text Transfer Protocol and Secure Socket Layer data encryption, here's a great in-depth article by the webmaster at SSL Shopper.

We've implemented a huge upgrade to all Stadium Expansions. Now, each and every Stadium Expansion reflects the true characteristics of the ballpark so that the focus of game play stays on the field and not in reference charts or books.